February 3, 2012
The Association of Concerned Africa Scholars
Abstract:
Since the end of the Cold War, internal violence resulting from ethnic and sectarian conflict has erupted in a number of African countries, most notably Somalia, Liberia, Burundi, Rwanda, and Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations, other international and regional organizations, and interested foreign powers first responded to this explosion of internal violence by employing the traditional methods of conflict resolution that had been used with some success to resolve conflicts during the Cold War period.
Many of the leaders of multilateral international and regional organizations, foreign powers, and other interested parties quickly became frustrated by their inability to use these traditional methods to resolve internal conflicts. They therefore concluded that the traditional methods of conflict resolution were insufficient for dealing with internal violence and sought to develop and employ new methods of conflict resolution which involved the use of sanctions, investigations of human rights abuses, the imposition of legal penalties, and the use of military force.
This issue of the Bulletin presents the views of a wide variety of concerned scholars and activists who, although passionate and involved, seek to provide principled and practical perspectives on these questions.
William Minter and Alex de Waal discuss the broad ethical and political issues raised by intervention in African conflicts since the end of the Cold War. Anna Simons, Joost Hiltermann, and Stephen Weissman explore the lessons to be learned from the attempts by the international community to intervene in Somalia, Rwanda, and Burundi. Herb Howe examines Executive Outcomes - the best known of a number of private security firm that are increasingly active in Africa - and its role in African conflicts. And Adekeye Adebajo looks at the potential for an all-African intervention force, an idea first proposed by Kwame Nkrumah in the 1960s.
Articles in this issue include:
1. “Intervention:” The Folly of Formulas | William Minter
2. African Encounters | Alex de Waal
3. Hardly Innocent: Armed Humanitarian Intervention in Somalia | Anna Simons
4. Post-Mortem on the International Commission of Inquiry (Rwanda) | Joost R. Hiltermann
5. Peacekeeping and Peace Enforcement in Burundi | Stephen R. Weissman
6. Executive Outcomes and African Stability | Herb Howe
7. An African High Command | Adekeye Adebajo...
February 2, 2012
Karen Human Rights Group
Abstract:
This paper highlights impediments to effective international responses to attacks on health and education in eastern Burma presented by lack of clarity regarding the meaning of "attacks" within the monitoring and reporting framework established by UN Security Council resolutions 1612 and 1998. In order to address this definitional ambiguity and enable recent developments in the UN Security Council to potentially provide support to communities facing attacks in eastern Burma, this paper argues for interpreting "attacks" in a fashion that is consistent with applicable international humanitarian law. The analysis below concludes that UN-led monitoring, reporting and response pursuant to UNSCRs 1612 and 1998 should include acts by parties to armed conflict that both: a) violate relevant international law; and b) attack or threaten to attack personnel related to schools or medical facilities and/ or destroy, damage or force the closure of a school or medical facility....
February 1, 2012
Human Security Report Project
Abstract:
Human Security Research is a monthly publication by the Human Security Report Project (HSRP) which compiles the latest human security-related research published by university research institutes, think-tanks, governments, IGOs and NGOs.
This publication highlights recent research on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and the foundation documents underpinning the issues. The contents are:
TRENDS: Protection of Civilians in 2010: Facts, Figures, and the UN Security Council’s Response
RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT: The UN Security Council and the Responsibility to Protect: Policy, Process, and Practice
CIVILIAN CASUALTIES: Who Takes the Blame? The Strategic Effects of Collateral Damage
CHILDREN: In Their Words: Perspectives of Armed Non-State Actors on the Protection of Children from the Effects of Armed Conflict
INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW: Privileging Asymmetric Warfare?: Defender Duties Under International Humanitarian Law
MYANMAR: Self-Protection Under Strain: Targeting of Civilians and Local Responses in Northern Karen State
HUMANITARIAN RELIEF: Incorporating Protection into Humanitarian Action: Approaches and Limits
PEACE OPERATIONS: Challenges of Strengthening the Protection of Civilians in Multidimensional Peace Operations
CHAD: Protecting Civilians Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Eastern Chad
PEACE OPERATIONS: Enhancing Civilian Protection in Peace Operations: Insights from Africa
ARMS: Meeting the Challenges: Protecting Civilians through the Convention on Cluster Munitions...
January 27, 2012
World Federalist Movement - Canada
Abstract:
When the United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions to stop Moammar Gaddafi from continuing to harm his civilian population in the spring of 2011, it was acting on a real need and in accordance with the 2005 UN policy on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
However, the application of the R2P norm was not letter-perfect. In a WFM- Canada discussion paper, Robin Collins explores many of the questions and ambiguities surrounding the Libya conflict and concludes by stressing the importance of effective implementation of September’s UN Security Council resolution 2009, setting out a framework for post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction in Libya....
January 13, 2012
Amnesty International
Abstract:
2011 was a year without precedent for the peoples of the Middle East and
North Africa region. It was a year in which millions of people of all ages
and backgrounds, especially the young and often with women to the fore,
flooded on to the streets to demand change. Often, they continued to do so in
the face of extreme violence meted out by the military and security forces of
those who claimed to govern – and who had continued to enjoy and to squander
the fruits of power – in their very name.
Dubbed the “Arab Spring”, in fact the protests brought together in common
cause people from many different communities – certainly Arabs for the most
part but also Amazigh, Kurds and others. It was as if a tightly wound coil of
frustration caused by years of oppression, human rights violations, misrule and
corruption was suddenly unsprung, releasing an energy and power that ordinary
people until then had neither experienced nor realized that they possessed.
The flames of protest, literally and tragically, were sparked by the desperate
act of one young man – Mohamed Bouazizi – in the small Tunisian town of Sidi
Bouzid. His injuries proved fatal before he could see the maelstrom of popular
fury that his act touched off. That maelstrom succeeded, in turn, in toppling the
long-standing rulers of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen who, until 2011, had
seemed invincible.
It was a year like no other, when the whole region shook as ordinary people
summoned up the courage to provide a demonstration of “people’s power” such
as the region had never seen before and, incredibly, to sustain it even when the
might of the state and its repressive security forces were deployed against them.
This failed in Tunisia and then in Egypt, where peaceful protests triumphed, albeit
at heavy human cost, while in Libya the result was a slide into armed conflict in
which international intervention tipped the scales against the oppressive regime of
Colonel Mu’ammar al-Gaddafi. In Yemen, the President’s obstinate refusal until
almost the end of the year to stand down despite mass anti-government protests
and increasing levels of repression and violence exacerbated the country’s already
deep social, political and economic problems.
Bahrain’s rulers, backed by Saudi Arabia, faced down the protests by force,
again at heavy human cost and deepening divisions, but ended the year
committing to reform, reparation and reconciliation. Meanwhile, Syria teetered
at the edge of civil war as its obdurate President, facing unprecedented demands for change, used relentless brute force to crush the protests, but in
doing so succeeded only in exposing further the rotten nature of his rule.
This report describes the events of this historic, tumultuous year, one which
saw so much suffering and sadness but also spread so much hope within the
region and beyond, to countries where other people face repression and
everyday abuse of their human rights. Amnesty International too was
challenged, as never before, to respond to the events by documenting the
violations that were committed and, most of all, by mobilizing its members and
supporters to extraordinary lengths in support and solidarity with the people in
the streets of Cairo, Benghazi, Sana’a, Manama, Dera’a and elsewhere who
were truly “in the frontline” in demanding reform, accountability and real
guarantees for human rights. This report is dedicated to them, their suffering
and their momentous achievements....
Armed Conflict 
